Overview
- EU negotiators from the Parliament and member states agreed overnight on a framework allowing category‑1 NGT plants to be treated as equivalent to conventional varieties under a limited number of edits.
- Seed bags sold to farmers must indicate the presence of NGT‑1 plants, while no labelling is required on final food products.
- Herbicide‑resistant or insecticidal NGT traits are excluded from the market, and all NGTs are banned in organic farming.
- Farm unions and MEPs Jessica Polfjärd and Pascal Canfin hail climate‑resilience and competitiveness gains, as NGOs including Pollinis warn of traceability gaps and potential environmental and health risks.
- EFSA supports allowing some NGTs, whereas France’s Anses calls for case‑by‑case risk reviews and robust post‑market surveillance; the agreement still needs formal approval by EU countries and the Parliament, and commercial rollout is expected to take years.